The Crimson Moon
by Juxapose4ever
Summary: My first Halloween Fanfic!
1. Chapter 1

**The Crimson Moon**

**Chapter 1**

A boat docks in the pier of a small village resting next to the mountains and a dense forest. A young man named Kei gets off the boat, and heads into the small village miles away from civilization. Even though he is a stranger to this village, he does know that he once came for a visit one Summer when he was only a child. He can hardly remember anything about this village, but he still manages to get around without getting lost.

The reason Kei is paying another visit to the small gathering known as Flowerbud Village is because he had recently received a letter saying that his grandfather had passed away. When he was only a child, he made a promise that he will someday take over his grandfather's farm in his place. Today, he is going to pay his respect by attending his grandfather's funeral, and then take over the farm as promised.

During the funeral, Kei felt something uneasy about the other villagers. Even though they all paid their respects to Kei's grandfather, he could not see any signs of sadness in the other villagers. Even though nobody appeared to be happy about his death either, Kei was expecting to see at least someone crying at the funeral.

Another unusual feeling that he got at the funeral is that he felt that he was being watched. There were too many people at the funeral to tell where that feeling came from. Many of the villagers were also wearing large black hats, so seeing many of the villager's faces was a difficult tasks.

He tried his best to ignore the unusual feelings at the funeral. He is in a village close to the mountains and the forest after all. It's normal for people to act differently towards strangers. Since he was born in the city, he is used to the ways people behaved in his hometown. Since he will be living in a small village far from civilization, he will need some time to get used to the changes in culture and community.

After the funeral, Kei arrives at his grandfather's old house. Even though the building has to be hundreds of years old, it still holds up in pretty good shape. The house is big enough for a family of three to live comfortably with a full sized kitchen, large bedroom, bathroom, washroom, a log terrace outside, and stairs leading up to the roof.

His grandfather has died several days before the funeral, however the house has been cleaned thoroughly several times before Kei arrived in the village. Not even a trace of dust or dirt on anything in the house. Even the bed where his grandfather slept on has been made. It almost seems like the house was prepared and cleaned especially for him to live in.

Ignoring the unusual accommodations, Kei knows that he will need to start his job as a farmer tomorrow. There is some food left in the ice box, so he makes himself something to eat. He then tours the farm on his own, and checks the buildings. Everything is in excellent condition for it's age, and ready to be filled with animals such as cows and chickens.

After the tour, the sun begins to set. It has been a long day for him, and so he returns home to get some rest. But as he sleeps, he dreams of some unusual things. He dreams of a large group of shadow figures with blue glowing eyes. One of the shadow figures have red glowing eyes instead. They all march towards him over a red colored moon in the sky.

He wakes up several times that night. These odd dreams are unusual for him, but he feels that he may be having them because of the death of his grandfather. He tries his best to ignore them and have sweeter dreams, but no matter how hard he tries, he keeps having the same dream over again.

Morning has come, but Kei is too tired to wake up just yet. He continues to sleep all the way until 11:00am. Even then, he feels groggy. After he fully wakes up, he walks over to the washroom where he cleans himself up for his first day on the job. After splashing himself with water, he takes a look at himself in the mirror. His brown eyes have large bags under them that are just to heavy to hide. He grabs a comb, and tries to brush his brown hair straight.

He knows that he should take a shower. But he woke up so late, that showering will have to wait until tonight. He walks over to the bedroom, and pulls out some of his grandfather's old farming clothes. Like the rest of the house, the clothes have been washed and pressed. He is too tired to ask why did someone go so far to make sure the house and clothes are clean. So he wears the heavy blue overalls over his white shirt. He then puts on the work boots, gloves, and rucksack. Finally, he wears the blue baseball cap that his grandfather always wore while he was still alive.

He takes another look in the mirror, and sees a farmer ready for action. However, the farm is empty with no crops or animals to take care of. He brought some money from his hometown, but he is not sure if it's going to be enough to buy seeds and food for himself to live off of. Standing around is not going to get him anywhere, so he leaves the farm and checks what his small funds can get him.

As soon as he arrives into the village, he finds a flower shop. From the depth of his memory, he is able to recall that the flower shop is a place where he can buy seeds to plant crops. He takes a look at his fistful of money, and hopes that he has at least enough to buy some seeds to grow in the farm.

He walks in the flower shop. The fresh smell of flowers and soil fills the room. He then finds many shelves loaded with bags of seeds of all types. Some of the seeds cannot even grow in the current season. Luckily, he has studied a bit of gardening before he arrived in the village, so he is able to tell what seeds he needs.

However, the thing that catches his eye the most is the middle ages woman who runs the shop. She seems to be about 35-40 years old, but unlike most people he has seen before she has pink hair. In the city, many citizens dye their hair to be rebellious or unique in some way. But this woman's hair seems to be naturally pink. Another thing he finds unusual is that even though she has a friendly smile, her eyes are closed the whole time Kei has been there looking around.

He grabs several bags of turnip and potato seeds. The prices are fairly inexpensive, but he still wonders if he has enough to buy some food afterwards. But even if he can't afford much, he still believes that he can have at least one Harvest in before he runs out of food. So he goes on to the pink haired woman, and places his purchase on the table.

The woman smiles warmly at Kei, but she still doesn't open her eyes. Even though her eyes are closed, Kei feels that she can still see him. He has no idea if she is blind, or if that's just the way she is. "Hi there! You're Tony's grandson, am I right?" she said cheerfully.

"Yes I am." he answerd. "My name is Kei, I inherited my grandfather's farm. So I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

"My name is Lillia. Welcome to my shop!"

She smiles even more at Kei. At this point, the constant smiling is beginning to creep him out. Before he says anything he might regret, he pulls out his money and asks, "So, how much do I owe you for the seeds."

Lillia pushes the seeds to Kei and says, "Don't worry about it, just take them."

Kei freezes for a moment. She is offering the seeds to him at no charge, but he is unsure if he should accept them or not. Accepting them would save him a lot of money, but at the same time, he would feel like he is taking advantage of her.

"Thanks for the offer, but I couldn't possibly accept them for free." he said to her.

She continues to smile and says, "Don't worry about it, your money is no good here. Just take them, I insist."

He then nods and accepts the seeds. He is more than willing to pay for them, but she insists that he takes them from her. He feels weird taking the seeds without paying for them, but he would rather not argue with her. He thanks her properly, and leaves the shop with the seeds in his hands.

After he leaves the shop, Lillia opens her eyes revealing her emerald colored irises. She snickers wickedly and says to herself, "So he's the one we've been waiting for. He doesn't look very bright, but I guess he'll do. I just hope that this plan works."

Outside the shop, Kei takes a couple of deep breaths. She was a nice woman, but there is something about her smile that seems to scare him. Even though she makes him feel nervous, he knows that he will have to go back to the shop on a regular basis to get more seeds.

Soon enough, Kei starts to smell something sweet in the air. Across the road, he finds another shop. And by the smell of cookies and cakes in the air, he can quickly tell that it's a bakery. If there is one thing that Kei loves more than anything is sweets. Forgetting about his small budget, the sweet smell draws him into the bakery.

The inside of the bakery is a bit plain, but the irresistible smell of cookies, cakes, and pies make up for the decor. There is a display that showcases many different cakes and pies for sale. All of them look especially delicious. There are no factories anywhere nearby, so all of the sweets made in the bakery has to be fresh and hand made.

On the other side of the display, he finds the shop owner. A middle aged man of about 30 years old smiles for Kei. Unlike the flower shop owner Lillia, his smile is a bit more friendlier and much less scarier. "Hi there! You must be the new guy at the farm."

He nods and answers, "Yes! My name is Kei. I inherited my grandfather's farm after he died."

"I see. That's unfortunate, but we are glad to have you in the village." said the shop owner. "My name is Jeff, I am the master of the bakery. I guess you passed by because you're hungry."

Kei nods. Jeff then bows at him, and brings him to the only table in the shop. Even though the shop smells delicious, the village is very small, so there isn't much business coming in. Jeff then hands him a menu and says, "Go ahead and choose what you would like. My assistant will be with you shortly."

Kei thanks him, then Jeff returns to his spot where he checks on the register. Kei takes a good look at the menu, and sees a wide variety of cakes, cookies and pies that looks irresistible. He cannot make up his mind with so many choices.

As he is looking through the menu, a young girl approaches him. It takes him a minute to finally notice her standing by him waiting for him to decide on what he wants to eat. He looks up at her, and is immediately captivated by her lovely smile. She wears a long blue dress that seems to be out of fashion, but still looks cute on her. Her frilly white apron lightly powdered with flour gives Kei the impression that she bakes the cakes in the shop. Her medium brown shoulder length hair bounces as she moves. Everything about her has always been what he has been looking for in a woman.

She smiles at him and says, "Well, hello there. You must be the new farmer!"

Kei stands up and says, "Yes I am." He extends his hand and says, "My name is Kei, I inherited my grandfather's farm. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The young woman giggles and says, "The pleasure is all mine. My name is Elli, I'm the baker."

They both smile at one another for a moment. They had just met, but already feel some sort of a connection between them. Even so, they are nervous, and don't know what to say to one another. So rather than just standing there and staring at each other, Elli says, "So, have you decided in what to try today?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that!" said Kei bashfully. He then picks up his menu, and takes another skim past the list. But he still cannot decide on what he wants to try. So he asks, "Everything looks so good, I can't make up my mind. What do you recommend?"

"Well, you can try the walnut bread if you like. It's my grandmother's unique recipe." she answered cheerfully.

"I'll have that then." he responds. Elli then runs over to the back so she can get some walnut bread. But as Kei waits for Elli, he notices a change in Jeff's attitude. He feels that Jeff may be a bit upset for some reason. The only thing he did was barely have a chat with Elli.

After a few minutes, Elli has brought out a plate with a generous serving of walnut bread. She sets the bread down on the table so that Kei can enjoy it. But rather than just returning to the back, Elli sits with him to have a casual chat. They learn that they have a lot in common. They both love sweets, they both love to fish, and they were both born in the season of Fall.

Soon enough, it's time for Kei to return to the farm. He says his goodbyes to Elli and Jeff, and leaves the bakery. After Kei leaves the bakery, Elli giggles and says, "What a nice guy he is. He's cute, and he likes sweets. I think I'm going to like having him around the village."

"You best stay away from that guy." said Jeff in a cold harsh tone.

Elli looks at Jeff and asks, "Why? What's wrong with him?"

"Remember, he's Tony's grandson. So he belongs to the Yaminochigo." he answered.

Elli gasps. She then looks at the door that Kei had just left the bakery from, and begins to feel sad. Even though they just met, Elli already started having interests in him. But she knows just as well as anyone else that someone else has already claimed him.

Time passed in the village. Kei has been working very hard in clearing out the field in his farm. When he arrived, his land was covered in rocks branches and weeds. It takes him some time to get used to the tools that once belonged to his grandfather. He also finds that raising crops is a lot harder than he originally assumed. He thought that all he needs to do is to water the seeds every day, and he'll eventually get crops. But he needs to factor in sunlight, weather problems, and other wild animals like rabbits.

He has been working so hard in the farm, that he rarely interacts with the villagers. He is so busy, that he can't even attend the festivals of the village. He does go the the flower shop every once in a while to pick up new seeds, but the owner keeps giving him free seeds. The first time is understandable, but she refuses to allow Kei to pay for any seeds.

Elli has changed dramatically. When he first arrived at the bakery, he thought that Elli liked him. But now, she is trying her best to distance herself away from him. But at the same time, Kei also notices her watching him from that distance. As far as why Elli is acting so unusual is beyond his understanding.

He does come across other villagers in Flowerbud Village, but he is sure that he has yet to meet everyone. Even though the village is small, it's still big enough. As soon as he has some extra time on his hands, he will properly introduce himself to everyone.

Spring is ending, and one of the last festivals being celebrated in this season is the Flower Festival. According to what he heard, the festival is tribute to the Harvest Goddess, in which they worship. Even though Kei is unfamiliar with a religion that worships a Harvest Goddess, it's part of their culture, so he'll need to learn to accept it.

Unlike the past festivals, Kai plans to attend the Flower Festival. The day before the festival, he goes over to the festival square first thing in the morning. In the square is a box and a stack of papers where he can vote for this year's goddess. Since the girl he likes the most is Elli, he decides not to vote for her.

However, as he is about to vote, he finds something interesting. During the short time he has lived in the village, he has met only four young girls. Elli from the bakery, Ann from the Green ranch, Karen from the vineyard, and Maria from the library. In the list of candidates, he finds the name Popuri written along with the others. Even though he rarely interacts with the villagers, he finds it hard to believe that he has not yet come across all the young ladies of the village.

Since he is not familiar with someone named Popuri, he goes ahead and votes for her. The reason he doesn't vote for Elli is because the winner of the festival dances with the Harvest King. The Harvest King is elected the year before, so there is no way that he can become the Harvest King. Everyone else is free to dance with whoever they choose. Kei wants a chance to talk to Elli, so he wants to use this as an excuse to chat with her.

The next day, Kei completes his work early, and heads to the square to attend the festival. He is shocked to see how well the square is decorated for the festival. The whole square is decorated with flowers, ribbons, and balloons. All the girls are in the back counting the votes to see who has won the title of goddess this year. Taking advantage of the festival, Kei takes the chance to meet and properly introduce himself to the other villagers he has not met yet.

After several hours of waiting, the girls one by one exit the back to reveal the winner of the Flower Festival. Elli, Ann, Karen, and Maria all walk out first to shower the path with flowers for the goddess. Finally, the winner is revealed, a young pink haired girl.

Kei stands there charmed by this girl's beauty. Similar to the flower shop owner, she has natural pink hair, but this girl also has red colored eyes as well. Since she was elected as goddess, she is wearing the goddess costume which is pink in color, and decorated from head to toe with real flowers. He finds it odd how the pink color of the dress seems to match the color of her hair. He wonders in each girl has a unique dress, or do they all wear the same dress.

The winner's name is announced as Popuri, the girl that appeared on the list that he had voted for. However, even though he has never introduced himself to this girl, he has an odd feeling that he might have seen her before. He cannot put his finger at why does he have this strange familiar feeling as she stands waving to the crowd next to an old man who was crowned king last year.

After the announcement, everyone else scatters around to ask the guys and girls they like to dance. Kei goes ahead and approaches Elli in order to ask her to dance. Fortunately, he was taught the dance steps before the festival, so he feels confident that he can sweep her off her feet.

"Can I have this dance?" he asked catching Elli by surprise.

Elli turns around to face Kei. Even though she would love to accept his invitation, she remembers that she needs to keep her distance from him. So she bows and says, "I'm sorry, I would like to. But I already promised Jeff that I would dance with him."

Kei sighs, feeling disappointed that Jeff already asked her prior to the festival. But he still smiled for Elli and said, "That's okay. But how about next time? Will you save the next dance for me?"

Elli blushes. She really wants to accept his offer, but she knows that she can't. Her heart is torn between what she wants to do, and what she has to do. She can no longer take the pressure, so she runs off out of the festival, and back into the bakery.

Kei scratches his head and says himself, "Where is she going? I thought she was going to dance with Jeff? I just don't understand her at all."

"Would you like to dance with me instead?" said the voice of a sweet young girl who has caught Kei by surprise. He turns around, and sees that the girl who had just asked him to dance is Popuri.

Kei is confused, so he asks, "I don't mind, but I thought you were supposed to dance with the Harvest King?"

She smiles and says, "The Harvest King is an old man. I already asked the mayor, and he already approved that I could dance with someone else!" She then grabs his hand, and pulls him into the crowd to dance. Kei hasn't agreed to dance with her, but as long as she's insisting, he thought that he might as well.

As soon as the music starts to play, Kei and Popuri begins to dance. Even though she has pink hair and red eyes, Popuri is a very attractive girl, so he doesn't mind dancing with her at all. He originally wanted to dance with Elli, but he is content with Popuri instead. But as they dance, he feels something unusual. He feels that for some reason, he feels that he knows this girl. There is something about her red eyes and pink hair that gives him deja vu.

After the festival is over, Kei walks Popuri home. As they walk together, they have a nice chat about their interests. Even though Popuri and Kei have very little in common, Popuri's love for flowers and nature is something he does appreciate.

What shocks Kei the most is that Popuri lives at the flower shop, and the owner is her mother. Even though he can clearly see the family resemblance with the pink hair, their personalities are somewhat different. Popuri is just as cheerful as her mother, but not nearly as scary.

After dropping Popuri off, he begins to head home. But as he is about to leave the flower shop, he gets a strong feeling that he is being watched. He quickly turns towards the bakery, and sees Elli peeking out of the window. The lights are out, and she is hard to see, but he does catch her watching him. Elli quickly hides as soon as she is found. He doesn't understand why does she constantly has to hide from him. He wishes that she could tell him what's wrong, but he gets the feeling that he will never know.

Summer arrives several days later. Popuri has been spending a lot of time with Kei and his farm. The first time Popuri arrived at Kei's farm, she brought some cake and cookies for them to enjoy. This is the only thing they have in common, their love for sweets. Unlike the festival, Popuri normally wears a white blouse, a long red skirt that nearly reaches the floor, a black corsage that shows off her feminine curves, and a green hair band that keep her waist long pink hair pushed back.

Popuri has also brought a lot of flower seeds to Kei's farm, and he helps her plant and grow them. But as they spend their time together, Kei continues to have the odd feeling that someone is watching him from a distance. Every once is a while, he would catch Elli in the corner of his eye hiding behind a tree.

Sometime in the middle of Summer, Kei walks out of the house, and gets ready for another day on the farm. Usually he would be visited by Popuri to tend to the flowers they are growing, but this time Elli decides to pay him a visit. Normally, Popuri would come around in the afternoon, but Elli is standing outside his house at 8:00am. The strangest thing about the visit is Elli's mood. As she stands there looking at Kei, there is a look on fear and uncertainty in her eyes.

Before Kei has the chance to say hi, Elli says, "Kei, I have something to tell you! Will you listen to me!"

He scratches his head in confusion, and he says, "Sure, I'll hear you out. What do you want to tell me?"

Elli then looks around nervously. Even though she sees nobody nearby she doesn't want to risk getting caught. So she takes his hand and runs off dragging Kei behind her saying, "Not here! Please follow me to someplace where we can be alone!"

He has no idea why she needs to be alone to tell him what's on her mind. But he still follows her outside of the village, and heads into the forest. Elli doesn't stop until they arrive into a small clearing inside the forest. After catching his breath, he takes a look at his surroundings. The grassy clearing is partially covered in flowers and herbs that grow wild. He also finds a small freshwater spring nearby. By the density of the trees, Kei knows that they are pretty far into the forest.

"Elli, where are we?" he asked.

Elli turns to him, and stares deep into his eyes. She then says, "Kei, I'm planning on leaving Flowerbud Village."

Kei's eyes pop open in shock. "Leaving? But why?"

Elli shakes her head no, and answers, "That is not important. But what I need to tell you is that I want you to come with me!"

Kei is now more confused than ever. When they first met, they got along very well. Then Elli starts to avoid him soon afterwards. Now Elli wants to run away from the village with him. He cannot make any sense of Elli's actions.

At this point, Kei wants to know the truth once and for all. So he places his hands on Elli's shoulders and asks, "Elli, are you hiding something from me? Why have you been avoiding me all this time? Why are you asking me to run away with you? What's going on?"

Elli doesn't answer him. She only closes her eyes, and remains quiet for a moment. Kei begins to lose his patience, so he yells, "Elli, please don't ignore me! If something is happening, you have to tell me!"

Suddenly, Elli's eyelids open, and her brown eyes turn into a glowing blue color. Kei jumps back in shock, but the blue glow places him into a trance. Kei is now standing there helpless completely under Elli's control. She then walks up to him and embraces him tenderly. As she is holding him in her arms, she says, "I won't let the Yaminochigo have you. I want us to be together, forever. Please forgive me, I don't mean to force this on you, but I don't have any other choice."

She then looks deep into his eyes once again, and kissed him on his lips. Afterwards, two large fangs grow inside her mouth. Just before he plunges them into Kei's neck, She hears her voice shrieking her name from a distance. She hides her fangs, and steps away from Kei.

At that moment, Kei wakes out of his trance. He has no idea what just happened. The last thing he remembers was trying to get Elli to tell him what is going on with her. He then notices Popuri approaching them. He has no idea how did she know where they would be.

Popuri walks up to Elli and yells, "What did you think you were doing!?"

Elli hangs her head down in shame and says, "I wasn't doing anything, I swear."

Popuri then turns to Kei and asks, "Did Elli say anything strange to you?"

"Um, no. We were just talking." he answered. Even though he knows he is lying, he wants to keep the conversation between Elli and himself between them.

Popuri smiles and takes Elli by the hand. "The mayor is looking for you, he has something important to tell you."

Elli nods, and follows Popuri out of the forest. But just before she leaves, Elli whispers to Kei, "Beware of the Crimson Moon. . ."

After they leave, Kei returns home to do his daily chores. All day, all that flood his mind are the odd words that Elli spoke. She wanting to leave the village all of the sudden. She wanting him to run away with her. And the Crimson Moon. As he thinks about it some more, he remembers that he had a dream about a red colored moon. As he recalls his dream, he also had a fuzzy memory that Elli's eyes were glowing like the shadows in his dream.

But as he tries to remember what happened after he started yelling at Elli, his head begins to hurt. The more he thinks about it, the worse he feels. So after his work is done, he goes to bed and sleeps in early. He can only hope he can make some sense out of things tomorrow.

The next day, Kei heads over to the bakery to see if he can talk to Elli. He enters the bakery, Jeff smiles and says, "Why hello there Kei. What can I do for you?"

He walks up to Jeff and asks, "I came to talk to Elli. Can I please speak to her?"

Jeff's cheerful mood turns sour. He then turns around, and begins to count the money in his register. As he is doing so, he says, "I'm afraid that Elli doesn't live here anymore. She left Flowerbud Village last night."

"She did?!" he asked shocked by news. "Do you have any idea where did she go?"

"Last I heard, she went to live in Moondrop Village." he answered. He went silent for a while. Kei wanted to say something, but he cannot find the correct words.

Jeff turns around to face Kei and asks, "Did Elli say something to you?" Kei shakes his head no. "Please pay no mind to her, I know you and her got along pretty well, but she's been going crazy for some time now. Just forget about her, and pretend you never met her."

Kei feels awkward by his reaction. Since they did work together, he was expecting him to be a bit more worried or saddened by Elli's departure. But it seems like he is almost glad that she is gone.

Jeff doesn't answer anymore questions about Elli, or what might have happened to her. There isn't anything else he can do about Elli, so he turns around and leaves the bakery. But as he walks back home, he tries once again to remember what happened when he spaced out. But the image is too blurry to make anything out.

At the farm, Kei finds Popuri tending the flowers by herself. Some of the flowers are in full bloom, so she goes ahead and picks them. Kei smiles at how cute Popuri looks as she picks the flowers that they planted together. So as he gets closer to her, Popuri stands up with an armful of flowers and says, "Look at the flowers, aren't they pretty?"

Kei nods and says, "They all grew pretty healthy because of you."

Popuri's cheeks turn a deep rosy color. She then walks up to Kei and says, "Now that we have enough flowers, I think it's time to fulfill our promise."

"Promise? What promise?" Kei asked.

Without answering him, Popuri tip toes up and kisses him unexpectedly. Out of shock, Kei jumps back and says, "What was that about?"

"It's called a kiss." answered Popuri.

"I know it's a kiss, but why did you kiss me all of the sudden?"

Kei's thoughtless words hurts Popuri's feelings. She turns away from him and says, "I see, you did forget about our promise."

"Popuri, what promise are you talking about?"

Popuri sighs and says, "When we were kids, you promised that someday we would grow flowers together. And then, you would marry me."

Kei nearly faints out of shock. Things then go quiet for some time. Popuri is saddened that Kei had forgotten the promise made when they were children, and Kei tries hard to remember the promise. After a while, Kei begins to recall a time when he visited his grandfather's farm when he was 10 years old.

Sometime during the visit, he heard a scream for help by the mountains. That's when he met Popuri for the first time. She was trying to get a flower that grew on the side of a cliff, but she slipped and nearly fell. She held on a root sticking out of the side of the cliff screaming for someone to help her. Kei then climbed a nearby tree, and rescued her.

Popuri and Kei became good friends after that. One day while they were picking flowers near the mountains, Popuri asked him to make a promise with her. They made a promise that someday, Kei would inherit his grandfather's farm, and Popuri would help him grow flowers in the farm. Afterwards, Kei will then propose to Popuri.

"Oh, you mean that promise." he said after remembering his past with Popuri. "But we were so young then, we can't just get married all of the sudden."

"So, the promise was a lie?" she asked in a sad tone.

"No! Please don't misunderstand. I think we should get to know each other all over again. I mean, marriage is such a big step. We shouldn't rush into it!"

Popuri sighs and says, "Even if we were just kids, a promise is still a promise. I waited for you all this time to come back. Now that you're here, I thought we were going to be together. You promised that when we grow up, you would love me."

"Yeah, I know." he sighed.

"You promised that you would take care of me as long as you live."

"Yeah, I do remember saying that." he answered.

While still turned away, she smirks and says, "You even promised that you would die for me."

Kei scratches his chin, and says, "Yeah, I guess I did. But still, it's a bit too soon to think about marriage."

Popuri begins to play with her pink hair and says, "I get it, you don't like me anymore. You like Elli more than me."

"Hey I never said that!" yelled Kei.

Popuri then turns around showing off her sad puppy eyes. She then says, "It's okay, I understand. After all, not many guys like girls who have natural pink hair." She then begins to walk out of the farm while saying, "Goodbye Kei, I'm going home. I'll just forget about our promise, so you can go after Elli if you want."

Watching her leave so sad makes him feel guilty. All this time, she had waited for him, and he just forgets about the promise he made with her. Even though they were only children when they made that promise, he still made that promise and meant it. He feels that it would be wrong to break it.

He hasn't known Popuri for longer than a few days, but he feels that she is a good girl. She's very attractive, and she likes sweets like he does. Rather than just letting her go, he says, "Popuri wait!"

She stops and looks back at Kei. He takes a deep breath and says, "Popuri, do you honestly think that I'll make a good husband for you?"

Popuri nods. Kei knows that what he is about to do is crazy, but he says it anyway, "Popuri, lets get married!"

Popuri's face beams with happiness. She runs up to him, and jumps into his arms. He is not sure if he made the right choice, but he is willing to go through with it. But as Popuri embraces him, she lets out an evil smirk while she is not looking.

**To Be Continued.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A week after Kei asked Popuri to marry him, they head over to the church of Flowerbud Village to say their vows in front of the pastor. Everyone in the village attended the wedding, and cheered the newly weds. Kei finds the fact that the villagers didn't mind them getting married so soon a bit odd. He was expecting some people to be against it, but everyone was okay with the idea that he is marrying Popuri less than a season after they met.

About a year has now passed since Popuri and Kei had gotten married. So far, they have had absolutely no problems with their marriage. In fact, it seems like a perfect pairing to most people. Not once did they argue or fight over anything.

It is now the middle of Summer of Kei's second year living in Flowerbud Village. He waits patiently outside of his home, as his wife is in labor inside the house. Their first child is about to be born. Kei feels a bit nervous hearing his wife lets out painful screams as she gives birth to their child. His marriage has been successful so far, he can only hope that being a parent will be as successful as well.

After waiting for some time, Kei hears the crying of a newborn baby inside his house. A moment later, the midwife walks out of the house, and allows Kei to come in to see his newborn baby. He walks up to Popuri who is smiling cheerfully holding their baby in her arms.

Kei walks up to them, and asks his wife how are they doing. Popuri is a bit tired from the blessing of childbirth, but she is healthy. She then shows Kei the baby that she had brought into the world, a beautiful baby girl. Popuri has rocked it to sleep, so it's eyes are already closed. She looks a lot like Popuri, but with brunette hair just like Kei.

"She's so beautiful." said Kei as he caresses his daughter's cheek. "I am kinda surprised that she doesn't have pink hair like you and your mother does. I was almost sure that she was going to be born that way."

Popuri rocks the baby some more, then says, "Don't worry about that. Her hair is going to turn pink later on."

"Are you sure?" asked Kei in a surprised tone.

Popuri nods and responds, "I was born a brunette as well. But my hair turned pink about a year later."

Kei thinks for a moment. Even though he is not studied genetics in his life, he has never heard of someone's hair changing color naturally. However, he has never heard of natural pink hair either before he met Popuri or her mother, so he doesn't ask.

"So what are we going to name her?" asked Popuri.

Kei snaps his fingers and says, "That's right, we need to think up a name for her! I was thinking of a name like a flower. Like Rose, or Anemone, or Daisy. . ."

"I wanna name her Mint." suggested Popuri.

Kei looks at her awkwardly and asks, "Mint? That's quite an unusual name. Are you sure you want that name?"

Popuri then shows off her sad red puppy eyes to Kei. This is a tactic she uses often to convince Kei to do what she asks without a fuss. She then asks, "You don't like the name?"

Seeing that Popuri has shown him the face, he couldn't help but to give in. He then pats the baby's head, and says, "I guess Mint will be fine then. I guess it's cute when you think about it."

Popuri then smiles cheerfully, and kisses Kei. However, it doesn't take long before Kei notices that there is something unusual about his child. When her eyes finally opened the first time, he notices that her eyes are green, just like Lillia. Even though he pays no mind to Mint's eye color, sometimes when he's feeding her, he can sometimes see her eyes glow red for a split moment.

He pays the flashing of Mint's eyes no mind, he only think he's imagining it. However, Kei has heard stories from other parents in the past that taking care of a child is supposed to be a nightmare. Constant crying, waking up at night often, and other inconveniences that comes with caring for a newborn. However, Mint doesn't seem to exhibit these problems. She always sleep silently at night, especially when the full moon is out. She only cries when she's hungry, and only once per day, which is pretty infrequent for a baby.

Even though his baby is unusual, he only assumes that he was blessed with a perfect child. So he pays it no mind. As time continues to pass, Kei continues to feel that getting married to Popuri was the best decision he ever made. Popuri helps out with watering the crops, or shipping the eggs in the coop. Kei takes care of the harder work like caring for the cattle and sheep.

It is now the end of Summer. Mint is a couple of weeks old, she is growing pretty fast, but nothing unusual. Popuri is giving her milk from a bottle, and bouncing her around which makes her giggle happily. Kei packs his tools, and is about to start his work in the farm. Before walking out the door, he turns around and says, "Popuri, I'm heading out now! See you later!"

Popuri then asks, "Kei dear, could you do me a favor? Could you go to the forest and water the Blue Mist Flower? The flower will die if you don't water it every day, and I want to see the petals turn into a blue mist soon."

Kei nods, and leaves for his day of work. Just like routine, he waters the crops, and harvests the ripe goods. Popuri usually helps him, but since she is caring for the baby, she has a harder time finding time to help him. Kei is fine with that, he would rather have Popuri care for his child over helping with farm work.

He then heads over to the barn and coop, where he cares for his animals. He is quite amazed that he has gotten used to the farm work so soon after he has arrived. It almost feels like instinct in a way. He feels that he must have inherited his talent for farm work from his grandfather.

After the work is done, he heads into the forest to water the Blue Mist Flower that he and Popuri planted together at the beginning of Spring. Even though he doesn't mind doing Popuri the favor of watering the flower, he feels a bit awkward going deep into the forest. He is unsure why, but he almost feels the presence of spirits inside the dense and dark forest. And the place they planted the flower is in the same spot that he saw Elli last, by the spring that Elli asked to run away with him.

As he waters the flower, memories of what happened that day flood his mind. He knows that Elli was trying to tell him something, but she vanished before he could get any answers. The part where he blanked out also seems to disturb him, why can't he remember the few minutes before Popuri arrived?

His mood improves as soon as he sees something new. A butterfly enters the clearing, and lands on the flower. It's a very large butterfly with blue wings, he has never seen such a variety before. As he watches the butterfly from a distance, an unusual man rushes in and bumps into Kei. He then starts to take pictures of the butterfly without even saying hello.

Kei was about to tell this man off, but he notices something unusual. First thing that he notices is that this man is not a villager of Flowerbud Village. With his green clothing and hard had that camouflages with the grass, Kei can only assume he must be some sort of scholar, especially for insects.

"Hello? Who are you?" asked Kei.

The unusual man turns around, showing off his white mustache and coke bottle glasses. He then replies, "Hello there, my name is Louis, an entomologist. I study rare insects for a living."

"I see. I'm Kei, it's nice to meet you." greeted Kei. "You don't live here by any chance, do you?"

"No, I live in the next town over. It's a small town called Moondrop Village, you might have heard of it." he answered.

Kei quickly recognizes the mane of the village. "Moondrop Village? Do you know a girl named Elli who lives there?"

"Who?" asked Louis.

"Elli. A young girl who moved over there recently. She's pretty cute with short brunette hair, blue dress, she has a talent for baking."

Louis stares at him awkwardly and says, "I think you may have gotten confused with another village. We don't have anyone named Elli living in Moondrop Village."

Kei is in shock. Even though it has been about a year since Elli left, he distinctly remembers Jeff saying that Elli left for Moondrop Village. So he asks, "Are you sure? Maybe you didn't meet her yet. She only left to go live there about a year ago. Didn't you at least hear of a bakery or a restaurant in your village hire someone new?"

Louis shakes his head no and says, "It is a custom in Moondrop Village to hold a festival for any new villagers living in Moondrop. There has been no new villagers in Moondrop Village for the past five years or so."

Kei's eyes widen, and his skin turns a little pale. Even though he always wondered why hasn't Elli written him any mail the past year, he always assumed that she was doing fine, and she completely forgot about him. But now he's getting word that Elli has never arrived in the village Jeff said she went to. He begins to wonder if maybe Jeff was lying to him. Or something else probably happened to her. Elli was a bit upset the last time he saw her, and she was acting very strange.

"Is something wrong?" asked Louis.

Kei snaps out of his trance, and says, "Nothing really. I was told that a friend of mine was going to live in Moondrop Village. Now that I know she never arrived there, I'm getting a bit worried about what might have happened."

Louis thinks for a moment and says, "You know, it could be the Yaminochigo curse."

Kei raises an eyebrow and asks, "Excuse me? The 'what' curse?"

"You never heard of it? How unusual, I thought that everyone who lives nearby knows about that curse."

Kei is now curious. "I just moved into this village last year, so there is still a lot of things that I don't know about." He then takes a deep breath, and dares himself to ask, "So, what is this curse you were talking about?"

Before answering his question, Louis resumes taking photos of both the flower and the butterfly. As he is taking the photos, he answers, "It's only a rumor going around, however, there seems to be a pattern of deaths and disappearances in this village. About every 20 years or so, there is usually one person who dies, and one person who vanishes without a trace."

Kei shrugs nervously. He remembers that about a year ago, his grandfather died. Not too long after that, Elli left the village, but she is not in the village where they told him she would be in. At this point, he feels that maybe Elli was trying to say something to him about it.

Kei wants to know more, so he asks, "That's pretty unusual. My grandfather died last year, and Elli vanished about a season later. Could this be the work of the curse you were talking about?"

Louis stops taking photographs, and looks at Kei unusually. "Your grandfather you say? That's quite strange, usually a young man dies every 20 years or so, and the person that goes missing is a young girl. And usually the vanishing occurs first, and the death happens about a year later."

Kei takes a sigh of relief. For a moment, he felt that the curse might be real, but if the pattern has changed, then it only means that it's only a coincidence. He knew deep inside that he doesn't believe in superstitious things like curses.

Louis then continued to take photos, and continues on with his story, "How strange, it has been about 20 years since the last young man died. He was a good friend of mine, he came into this village looking for rare flower seeds. He was a botanist who studied in the same school that I did. He then married a beautiful young woman in this village, but he died not too long after his daughter was born."

Even though he doesn't believe in curses and things like that, he is still curious about the stories that Louis is telling him. "So tell me, how did all this start?"

"Oh, it started many years ago, all the way even before this village was founded. Everyone from the neighboring villages knows the tale, and some people even stay clear away from this place. Mainly because this village was once called the Village of the Demons."

"Demons?" Kei asked curiously.

"Yes. The original settlers of this village were a strange bunch. They all came on a boat under a strange crimson colored moon. They all were beautiful females. They had pink hair, many of them either had green or red eyes. Some people even claim that their eyes glow an eerie red color when the full moon shines.

It is unsure where they came from, but everyone believes that they were thrown out from a far away country. These women were beautiful, but many people thought they were either witches or demons. After they settled here, many people tried to ask them to go back to where they came from. Men of all ages would go to drive them out. They all came back, oddly married to the young pink haired women. What is even more odd is that most of the men who left to drive the women away were already married. Something happened to them, like if they were possessed or charmed."

"That's quite a crazy story." said Kei. "But why were they called demons just because some guys were not loyal, and married a prettier face? That doesn't seem fair, does it? I also married a girl with pink hair, and I was not forced, possessed, or charmed into it."

Louis thought for a moment, and continues, "I also heard a strange rumor that the men that got married with these women would often have bite marks on their necks."

Kei then laughs and says, "Okay, now that's just silly. You mean to tell me that these girls are like vampires or something?"

Louis shakes his head no, and says, "That's not what I meant. There is a saying in my village that goes, 'If a Flowerbud girl bites you, she will steal your heart, and you will think about anything but her.' It's almost like an odd form of marriage."

Kei sighs and says, "Thanks for the interesting story, but I have to go home to my wife and child. See you later!"

Kei then turns around, and leaves the forest. On the way back home, he talks to himself about how silly the villagers from other villages have to be to come up with a story like that. Demons, curses, and other things like that are things he does not believe in. However, halfway back home he stops to think about something.

When he last saw Elli, she whispered something to him. She warned him about the "crimson moon". In Louis' story, he mentioned about a crimson colored moon. He also mentioned about people having glowing eyes. He did have a dream about shadows standing under a crimson colored moon with glowing eyes. Whether or not something is related to this is unsure to him.

After he returns home, Kei sits in front of the television, and watches the news. He likes to know if there will be rain, or a possible hurricane coming, so he makes a habit to watch every day. Popuri is in the kitchen making some dinner.

As Kei watches the news, the television loses signal, and all he can see is static. This is normal since he does live far away from any broadcast stations, so the television signals are often weak. He walks up to the TV, and checks the rabbit ears to try to restore picture to the television. But even after a few minutes of playing with the antennae, the signal does not come back.

He moves the television away from the wall, and checks the cables in the back to see if something came lose. After reconnecting the RF cables, the picture returns to the TV. But just before he moves the TV back to where it was, he finds something unusual. A piece of paper is taped to the back of the television. He has never needed to move the TV before, so he never noticed it earlier.

He takes the note, and tries to read the paper. But strangely, most of the note is written in a language Kei does not understand. The characters are mostly in Chinese or Japanese, but every once in a while, he would find some English words. The words written on the page were quite unusual, and a bit frightening. The only words he could read said, ". . . Help. . . Dying. . . Beware. . . Crimson Moon. . . Curse. . ."

The rest of the page seems to be blank. But the way it was written seems like if there was supposed to be more written on it. Curious to know who wrote this eerie message, Kei takes the message to his photo album. There he finds a photograph of his grandfather, and himself when he was a child fishing in a pond. He takes the photo out and turns it over. He finds a small message written in the back that says, "Me and my grandson fishing."

He takes the message and the photo, and compares the handwriting. The penmanship matches exactly, so he can only conclude that his grandfather wrote the message. Now Kei becomes even more curious. This is the third time he has heard of the crimson moon, once from Elli, once from Louis, and once from his grandfather in a hidden message. He wants to know why did his grandfather hide the message, and why is it written in an odd language that he cannot read?

Just then, Popuri calls Kei over to have dinner. He hides the message, and joins his family to have dinner. But as he eats, Popuri notices that Kei is very lost in thought. Rather than eating his meal quickly, Kei plays around with his food allowing it to get cold.

Popuri then asks, "Kei dear, is anything wrong?"

Kei snaps out of his trance, and begins to shovel the food into his mouth. "Nothing, everything is just fine!" he said between bites.

However, Kei knows that Popuri knows something is wrong. Rather than keeping silent, Kei asks curiously, "So, have you heard from Elli yet?"

Popuri shakes her head no and responds, "No, I guess she's forgotten about us."

Kei places his fork down, and mentions, "You know, I talked to someone who is from Moondrop Village. He has never even or heard of Elli. Isn't that strange?"

Popuri then stops eating, and places her fork down as well. She then answers, "I see. Maybe she went to a different village instead. All I can really say is that I hope she's happy wherever she is."

"You don't seem too worried about her." commented Kei. "I thought you two were best friends."

Popuri then looks at Kei in the eyes, and smiles. "Yes, we were best friends. But that ended when she tried to take you away from me."

"What does that mean?" asked Kei.

"You don't have to hide it from me." answered Popuri. "I know that Elli asked you to run away with her about a year ago. She knows that we were destined to get married, but she wanted you all for herself. Now I'm glad she's gone."

"I see." sighed Kei. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to keep it a secret, but I thought it may upset you if you knew."

Popuri continues to smile for Kei, and says, "You don't have to apologize dear. As long as you love me, that's all I care about." She then continues to eat without saying anything more about the subject. Kei also continues to eat without saying anything about the Elli or the crimson moon.

The next day, Kei returns to the Blue Mist Flower. Like always, he feels awkward when going into the forest to water the flower. He feels that something might be watching him, especially in the spring nearby. After he waters the flower, he curiously walks over to the spring, and takes a look inside. Just as he thought, nothing is inside but clear fresh water.

He was about to return home, but he then notices something unusual in the distance. Deep in the forest, he can see something blue within the green foliage. Curious to know what is there, he pushes himself through the dense trees to get a closer look. After a while, he reaches what seems to be a cloth that is half buried in the grassy dirt. He picks up the cloth and pulls it out of the ground. His heart nearly stops beating when he learns what was buried in the dirt. It was a blue dress, the dress that Elli last wore before she vanished.

Even though he found her dress, there doesn't seem to be a body. No bones, no decayed carcass, or strange smell of a rotting corpse. The dress had no tears or signs of a struggle, so she was not murdered or attacked by an animal. However, someone did try to bury Elli's dress to hide any evidence of what really happened to her.

Later that day, Kei did not return home. Instead, he went over to the graveyard to visit his grandfather's tombstone. He pulls out the letter that his grandfather wrote, and asks, "Grandfather. . . Were you trying to tell me something? Is there something happening to this village that I should know about?What happened to Elli last year? I don't now what to do, what to think. Should I run away with Popuri and my baby?"

Suddenly, Kei hears Popuri's voice say, "Is anything wrong?"

Her voice surprises him, especially since he was not expecting her to appear behind him so suddenly. He turns around, and sees his wife looking concerned. However, she is not carrying Mint with her.

Kei nervously answers, "I. . . um. . . Was visiting my grandfather's grave. But what are you doing here though, and where's Mint?"

"I left Mint with mom. I was worried because you didn't come home yet, so I came looking for you." Popuri answered.

He sighs. The worry that something strange is happening in the village is weighing in his mind. He is thinking about leaving, but he is not sure if he's growing paranoid, or if there really is something to worry about. As he looks at his grandfather's grave, he thinks about what Louis said earlier. About someone dying, and someone going missing. Even though the story doesn't match with the rumored curse, he still feels that there may be a connection of some type.

"Um, Popuri? How did grandfather died anyway?" he asked nervously.

"He killed himself."

"What?!"

Popuri then walks over to the grave where Tony rests and says, "Your grandfather was old and senile. He was a good man, but sometimes people just can't handle the pressure of working on the farm by themselves. One day, someone found that he had hung himself in the bedroom. It's a scary thing to find, but it's not the first time it happened."

"Really? It has happened before?" Kei asked in a near frightened tone.

Popuri then walks over to another grave. She then places her hand on the polished rock that reads Basil on it. "This is my father's grave. He died shortly after I was born. He was a traveler who studied plants for a living. After coming here, he fell in love with my mother, and they quickly got married. However, he died the same way as your grandfather."

Popuri's story then really begins to frighten him. He can tell that Popuri's father is the friend of Louis who told him the story of the curse. He died shortly after Popuri was born. He wonders what sort of connection there may be with the rumors Louis spoke of, the death of Popuri's father, his grandfather, and the disappearance of Elli.

"Popuri, what do you know of this curse that I heard of?" Kei dared to ask.

"You mean the Yaminochigo curse?" answered Popuri. "That's just a silly story people from other villages made up to make fun of us. Everybody knows that there are no such things as curses."

"What about the crimson moon?" Kei asks.

"In the country, the moon sometimes changes color. Blue, yellow, red, white. People make up wild stories about the colors or shapes of the Moon. It's silly, just pay them no mind."

"But Popuri, I found Elli's dress in the forest. She never left this village, something happened to her!"

Popuri looks at Kei angrily. Of the whole year they had been married, this is the first time he has seen her angry at all.

"Why are you so worried about Elli?" asked Popuri in a serious tone. "Could it be that you actually cared for her more than me? Did you want to leave the village with her, and leave me behind?!"

"No, please don't misunderstand!" said Kei, attempting to comfort Popuri. "I'm only worried because Elli was a friend of mine. If something happened to her, I'm only worried that something can happen to someone else, like you or Mint. I'm just scared, that's all."

Popuri smiles, glad that he is concerned for his family's safety. She walks up to him, and hugs him saying, "You don't have to worry. Nothing is going to happen to me or our little girl. Just don't worry about it too much. All of these things you heard are just wild stories."

Kei sighs and says, "Maybe your right. I'm just worrying for no reason."

Popuri then takes his hand and says, "Come on, lets go home. Mint is with mom, that means that we can be alone for a while."

Kei nods, and follows Popuri home. But even though he feels a bit better, he is still worried about the message his grandfather wrote. What was he trying to tell him? And why in a language that Kei cannot understand?

**To be continued.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3**

Time passed. Kei has never discussed anything about Elli or the crimson moon to Popuri anymore. He feels that as long as his wife says that there is nothing to worry about, then there is no need to be afraid. He feels a bit silly for believing in such tales as curses and demons.

Elli may be gone and missing, but he wants to forget about her. He is married to Popuri, and he doesn't need to think about someone else so much. He decides to ignore any odd things Elli may have said or done when they last saw each other. Elli's disappearance still floats in his mind, but he tries his best to forget about it.

The situation with his grandfather still does worry him, but he feels that he can get over it. As long as he has his family, he feels that he can overcome any worries or fears. With that in mind, he throws the letter written by his grandfather away. He never figured out what the strange characters meant, but he feels that he doesn't need to know.

Summer eventually fades and Fall arrives. The leaves turn colors of golden brown, red, and yellow. The days are getting a bit colder and darker. But even so, Kei loves this time of year. Many food related festivals occur in Fall, and he loves the taste of warm cookies and pies on cooler days.

The Fall days has been keeping him quite busy. With milk and eggs being so high in demand, he has brought many cows and chickens to meet the demand. He's not complaining about the work at all. With so much work in his hands, he has been making more money than usual. That means he can purchase more sweets when the season of Winter comes around.

Fall is ending soon. With only a few days left to go, Kei wakes up, and gets ready for another day of work. But unlike most days, Kei wakes up feeling a bit ill. He feels quite light headed and confused. As soon as he stands up, he almost collapses and becomes slightly dizzy.

Popuri wakes up, and notices Kei acting a bit strange. She sits up and asks, "Kei dear, are you all right?"

Kei looks back at his wife and says, "I'll be okay. I just need some headache medicine or something. It'll pass."

He then walks over to the bathroom where he washes his face. He then takes some aspirin for his dizziness so he can head to work. But as he is about to leave the bathroom, he stares at the mirror for a moment. For a split second, he thought he saw something unusual about his eyes. He isn't sure what it was, but he ignores it feeling that being slightly ill has made him see things.

Popuri wakes up, and makes breakfast for Kei. He starts to feel much better as soon as he is done eating. With that problem solved, he feels that he was feeling ill because of the cold weather, and being hungry at the same time. He then packs his tools, and heads out to work.

It takes him all morning to finish caring for the animals, and shipping all the goods for the villagers. Afterwards, he decides to take a walk around town, mainly to drop by the bakery. But as he walks around town, he notices something strange. All the villagers are preparing for a big event. Everyone except the shop keepers are running around making plans for some type of festival that Kei is unaware of.

As he sees everyone making preparations, he notices someone in particular doing something highly unusual. Saibara, the old man who runs the artisan shop is building some type of wash tub. However, the tub is much larger than any one that he has seen before, and none of the villagers use wash tubs to do laundry anyway.

Curious to know what he is building, Kei walks over and asks, "Hey Saibara. What is that you're making?"

Saibara stands up and wipes the sweat off his forehead. "What does it look like boy? It's a collection tub." he answered him.

"Okay. . . But what is it for? It looks a bit heavy for collecting apples." Kei asked curiously.

"It's for the festival coming soon." he grunted at Kei.

Kei stares at the tub, and says, "I see. So I can only guess it's for that game. You know, bobbing for apples or something?"

Saibara looks a Kei with the meanest glare he has ever seen. He then yells, "I'm busy boy! Why don't you go home, and bother someone else!"

"Okay, sorry I asked." replied Kei as he leaves the artisan to do his job. Saibara is not the only one with a negative attitude. Just about everyone else Kei tries to talk to is in a grumpy mood. Everyone wants to be left alone so that they can make the preparations in peace.

With the village being so sour, Kei returns home. He cannot figure out on his own why are the villagers acting so strange. Everyone is usually good natured and kind. He has never seen everyone so serious and ill tempered.

At home, Kei and his family sit together to have dinner. Kei was mostly eating, Popuri was busy feeding Mint. She is the only person who's mood has not changed. She is still as cheerful and happy as she always has been.

As soon as he is done eating, he becomes very curious about this coming festival the other villagers keep talking about. Since Popuri is not going to bite his head off, he decides to ask her about it. "Hey Popuri, is there a festival coming soon?"

"Of course there is." said Popuri. "The Moon Viewing Festival is coming on the last day of this month. Everyone is so excited about it!"

"Moon Viewing Festival? I never heard of that. Why didn't we celebrate it last year?" he asked.

"The Moon Viewing Festival only happens once every 22 years. It's when the moon is full, and most beautiful of any other year. I'm excited because this will be my second time seeing it. I was only a baby the last time it happened. And I'm so excited that Mint will see it for the first time!"

Kei scratches his head in confusion. He has never heard of a lunar phenomenon that occurs once every 22 years. But if it's a tradition that the whole village shares, he will have to accept it and be a part of it. He feels that the villagers must be that serious about this festival, so that must be the reason they are ill tempered. Rather then complaining about it, he'll just have to leave the villagers be, and wait for the festival to be over.

The next morning, Kei wakes up to the cool Fall morning once again. This time, he feels even worse than yesterday. His dizziness has turned into a splitting headache, and his body feels very hot. He tries to get out of bed, but he collapses on the floor.

Popuri wakes up upon hearing Kei crash on the wooden floor. She looks over, and sees Kei trying to get up with a hand on his forehead. "Are you okay?" she asked him.

Kei gets up heavily and answers, "Yeah, I'll be fine. I just need some medicine, that's all." He can hardly stand, but he tries with all his might to struggle to the bathroom. Popuri just gets up, and starts preparing breakfast.

Kei looks into the bathroom mirror, and sees his face as pale as a ghost. His skin feels clammy from all the sweating he did as he slept. Looking at his condition, he feels that he might have caught a fever overnight. He has been working hard within the last few weeks, so he feels that's the main cause of it. He then opens the cabinet behind the mirror, and takes out some medicine. Afterwards, he closes the cabinet, and pops a few aspirins into his mouth before washing his face.

After he splashes his face with some water, he takes a quick look in the mirror. He then jumps back in shock after seeing his own eyes glow a bright blue color in the mirror. As he jumps back, he loses his balance and hits against the door, which opens and he then falls on his back in the kitchen.

Popuri who was in the middle of making breakfast hears Kei slam on the kitchen floor. She walks up to him, and asks, "Kei dear, are you all right?"

Without answering her, he runs back to the mirror and checks himself again. But this time, his eyes are not glowing anymore, just plain brown like they always were. Popuri hugs him from behind and asks, "Kei dear, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost.

Kei looks back, and says, "Nothing. I'm just not feeling very well today. I just took some medicine, so I'll be fine." Popuri smiles for her husband, and goes back to the kitchen to finish preparing breakfast.

As Kei eats breakfast, he can't stop thinking about what he saw in the bathroom. For only a moment, he clearly saw his eyes glow an eerie blue color, just like in his dreams he had last year. He feels that he has seen these blue eyes somewhere else before, but he cannot put his finger on where or when.

"Are you sure everything is okay Kei dear?" asked Popuri. She noticed that Kei has been very lost in thought during breakfast.

Kei sighs and says, "Lately, I haven't been feeling well. And I have been seeing strange things. I'm sure it'll pass."

"It must be the Moon Viewing Festival coming tomorrow evening." commented Popuri. "The moon can make some people feel strange. I'm sure you'll feel better afterwards."

Kei has never heard of a case where the moon has made someone feel ill. He is not sure if the reason he has been feeling ill has something to do with the moon, or if it's the work in the cold air. However, winter is coming very soon, so he'll have to endure it if he wants to be a successful farmer.

The next day is the Moon Viewing Festival. Later that evening, Kei, Popuri, and Mint dresses up warmly so that they can watch the moon from the summit of Moon Mountain. But as they reach the top, Kei notices that they are the only ones who has arrived.

"Where is everyone else?" asked Kei.

"I'm sure everyone is on their way here. After all, this is a very important festival, nobody is going to miss it." answered Popuri.

Kei nods. He is confused as to why is watching the moon so important. He looks up, and he doesn't notice anything unusual about it, it's as white and round as any normal full moon. And if the festival was so important, why is everyone else late? Usually in festivals, people set up stands where they sell food and drinks. Some people play music, and people dance. This festival seems different to Kei.

Kei doesn't complain too much, as long as Popuri is enjoying herself, he is happy. So he sits on the summit, and watches the moon beside his wife and daughter. But after a few minutes, the moon starts to do something very unusual. The moon begins to change color from white, to a pale yellow color, to a bright orange. Kei has never seen such an odd phenomena occur, so he feels a bit excited. But his excitement turns into fear as the color of the moon continues to change color from orange to a deep red, almost the color of blood.

Kei stands up, and takes a few steps back. He then points at the moon and asks, "What's going on? What the hell is happening to the moon?"

Popuri looks back at Kei and answers, "Isn't it beautiful? It's called, the Crimson Moon."

"The Crimson Moon??" asked Kei. He then quickly remembers Elli's warning about the moon. He is unsure why, but he can almost feel something bad is going to happen soon.

He quickly grabs his wife's hand and yells, "Popuri! We have to get out of here!" but before he goes anywhere, he sees the other villagers walking up the mountain towards them. Just like the dream he had over a year ago, the villagers have glowing blue eyes.

Kei can't help but to panic in fear. The villagers have completely surrounded them, and there is no way that they can escape. Directly in front of them, he sees some of the villagers carrying the large tub that Saibara was making a couple of days ago. He doesn't know why are they bringing it towards them, but he can only assume that it's not going to be good.

The only thing he can really think about doing is distracting the villagers, and allow Popuri to escape with Mint. But as he turns to warn his wife, he sees something that completely paralyzes him in fear. His wife's eyes are glowing as well, but with a wicked red color instead. Mint just rests in her arms sleeping peacefully.

Moments later, the villagers grab Kei, and start to drag him away from his wife and child. Kei yells and struggles, but there are too many people restraining him to do anything at all. The villagers bring him into the tub that they brought along, and they hold him in there, making sure that he doesn't move.

As Kei struggles uselessly, he notices that Popuri is not running away. Instead, she is walking towards him carrying Mint in her arms. She doesn't look even the least worried or scared at all. As Kei continues to struggle, he yells out, "Popuri! What are you doing!? You must run away! If you don't, the villagers will-"

As soon as Popuri gets very close to him, he feels something piercing through his abdomen. He looks down, and sees that his own wife has stabbed him with a kitchen knife. However, she holds the knife inside of him, preventing him from bleeding to death.

"Popuri. . . Why? . . ." asked Kei.

"I'm sorry sweetheart." answered Popuri. "But I'm afraid that we need your blood. After all, Mint's hair cannot turn pink until we bathe her in the blood of her father under the Crimson Moon."

"I see. . . So this is. . . The curse I hear of. . ." Kei struggled to say.

"Curse? Don't be silly, there are no such things as curses." said Popuri. "This is more like a family tradition."

"I don't understand. . . What kind of sick family tradition is this?" asked Kei.

"You see Kei dear, our ancestors all had pink hair. They are called the Yaminochigo, the children of the night. They all had pink hair, and their eyes glow red with the Crimson Moon. But their home land was destroyed, and they were forced to live here instead. They then married the humans who lived in the nearby villages, but their children were born with normal colored hair and eyes. So in order to keep the bloodline strong, my ancestors were chosen. We had to bathe our children in the blood of their fathers under the blessing of the Crimson Moon."

"What. . . About. . . Elli?" asked Kei.

Popuri grinned and answered, "Every generation, there's always someone who wishes to take the one chosen to be the groom of the Yaminochigo. These people needs to be sacrificed to the Harvest Goddess."

Everything finally starts to add up to Kei. Elli's warning, Louis' story, the message from his grandfather. However, there isn't anything he can do about it at this point. Even with the knife stuck in his belly, he is still slowly bleeding to death.

Popuri looks into Kei's angry face and says, "Don't look at me that way dear. After all, you did promise you'd marry me when we were children. Not only that, you do have the same blood as all the rest of us, your glowing eyes is the proof. And if it will make you feel any better, I really do love you. But this was decided even long before I was even born. Now, be a good father, and die for your child!"

Popuri pulls out the knife from his abdomen, and the villagers finally release Kei. He is too weak to move from the loss of blood. All he can only do collapse in the tub, and bleed to death. As he looks up at his wife, he can vaguely see tears falling from her cheeks. This is the last thing he sees before he finally dies inside the tub.

Several years later, Popuri and Mint are in front of Kei's grave praying for him. Just as Popuri said, Mint's hair turned pink just like her mother and grandmother.

After they've finished praying, Mint asks her mother, "Mommy, what did daddy die?"

Popuri looks at her daughter and says, "Your father died for you. Mint sweetheart, you are the new Yaminochigo. Someday when you're older, you will find a man who you will choose to be your groom. And that man will give his blood for his child."

**The end.**

This Fanfic is based off the Harvest Moon: 64. Juxapose4ever or Harvestmoon4ever does not assume ownership of copywritten materials or names belonging to Marvelous Interactive, Victor Interactive, Marucome, or Natume.

This entire Fanfic was Written by Juxapose4ever for fans of Harvest Moon, or other people who just love to read. Thanks for reading, and happy Halloween.


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